| | | The pirate "Arrr" doesn't come from real pirates. (I know, I’m also bamboozled.) It comes from one British actor named Robert Newton, who played Long John Silver in Disney's 1950 Treasure Island and just used his own West Country accent with the volume turned up. | The film was also Disney's first-ever live-action movie. One man's exaggerated regional accent became the global sound of piracy, spawned an international holiday, and has been doing voice work for Halloween costumes ever since. | What’s in store: | | Read Time: 5 minutes |
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| | | | | AI POLICY | | | Donald Trump and six major AI companies have signed a voluntary agreement promising stronger safety checks as concerns grow around more powerful AI systems. | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI and Nvidia agreed to monitor their models, create internal safety teams and use outside auditors to check whether those safeguards are working. | The agreement is not legally binding, but says the measures could become formal laws or rules in the future. | In brief: | The six companies that signed are Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI and Nvidia. Companies promised internal monitoring and outside audits. The agreement does not currently carry legal penalties.
| Please sign on the dotted line | The deal reflects the Trump administration’s preference for companies to regulate themselves rather than introduce wider government or international rules. | That differs from calls by several countries, the EU and some AI leaders for stronger oversight. | Self-regulation? Hmm.- MV | Do voluntary AI safety agreements go far enough? | | Vote for live results + see results and opinions from yesterday at the bottom of the email. |
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| | | | | NEW RELEASE | | | OpenAI just added a new layer to ChatGPT called dots — and it's a bigger shift than another model bump. Instead of answering one question at a time, a dot takes on an ongoing responsibility and keeps working on it between conversations, checking back in only when a decision actually needs your judgment. | Futurepedia's free guide breaks down: | What dots actually is: what changed and why it matters What it replaces (and what it doesn't): dots sits on top of ChatGPT Work and Codex, not instead of them, so you're not relearning tools you already use. 3 ways to use it on day one: copy-paste hand-offs for keeping deals moving, keeping content ahead, and answering your audience.
| No hype, no guesswork. Just the breakdown you need before this shows up in every meeting you're already in. | |
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| | | | What's the next number: 2, 5, 11, 23, 47, ... | Find the answer at the bottom of the email! |
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| | | | | Every night, your brain basically disappears into its own private cinema. This video explores why dreams have fascinated humans for centuries, from ancient beliefs and religious interpretations to psychology and modern science. | It digs into what dreams might reveal about the mind, and why we’re still nowhere near fully understanding them. | |
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| | | | | AI SLOP | | | A man in Singapore has been charged after allegedly creating an AI-generated image of a crocodile that caused authorities to halt activity at a popular reservoir. | Ye Lin, from Myanmar, is accused of generating the fake image of a saltwater crocodile at Pandan Reservoir and sending it to a colleague. | Here’s what you should know: | Sending false information can carry up to three years in prison and a fine of S$10,000. Obstructing justice can carry up to seven years in prison. The case is expected to return to court in November.
| CSI: Reservoir | Singapore’s national water agency PUB was alerted to the supposed sighting on 20 August. | Staff searched the area, while rowing and canoeing activities were suspended for two days. | Authorities later confirmed the image was fake and reported the case to police. | Police also allege Ye Lin deleted the image and the app used to create it in an attempt to hide what happened. | Ye Lin has been charged with sending a false message and obstructing justice. Local media report that he intends to plead guilty. | This is why “source?” remains one of civilisation’s greatest inventions.- MG |
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| | | | Health: NHS hospitals are facing shortages of common medicines including aspirin, co-codamol and ramipril, raising concerns about the resilience of England’s drug supply chains.
Gaming: God of War Laufey is already dominating PlayStation pre-orders, ranking second across major markets as excitement builds for its February 2027 release.
Movies: Tom Cruise’s Digger has debuted to poor reviews, becoming his worst-reviewed film in nine years as the $160 million-plus movie also faces a weak box-office opening. | Don’t Miss: Reddit is tightening access to Old Reddit, soon requiring users to be logged in and to have used the classic interface within the previous six months. The company is also shutting down RSS feeds and phasing out its public API as it continues efforts to combat scraping and automated traffic. |
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| | | | Image of the Day |  | Artwork submitted by Mindstream reader sowmya: “Luxury minimal loft interior overlooking a sunlit valley” |
| Daily Image Prompt | Cinematic shot inside a vast futuristic robotics assembly facility |
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| Submit your artwork to Mindstream → |
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| | | | “What are you handing your Dot first?” | My soul-crushing admin -35% | Nothing until probation ends - 65% ✅ | Your Views: | “That's just too much access for a feature from an AI whose agents have been running amok even from controlled environments - nope ill just wait it out” - info@ja | “I HATE repetitive tasks. If I can hand that crap over to a machine, get out of my way because I'm coming through.” - willetl1 | “Let any bugs identify themselves first.” - soysun | Submit your opinions in our polls to be featured! |
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| Number Crunch Answer: 95. | #1219
Holier-than-thou. |  | | | |
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